"Just another surprisingly productive day in Stumptown"

     The mission on this pleasant overcast 70 degree summer Thursday was to head downtown to the Portland Office of Transportation in the '1900' Building on SW 4th Avenue and apply for a permit to post "No Parking" signs at the curb in front of my house to allow the moving truck to hog space for the big move next Thursday.  The real joy of this planned errand was knowing the '1900' building is located directly across the street from the very yummy and affordable Portland State University Food Pod.  Portland has become world famous for it's diverse food cart scene...at last count some 500+ permits have so far been issued this year to folks who sell their culinary treasures out of small portable kitchens.  The city-wide selection appears to be endless and I've never tired of checking out the latest reviews for the higher rated carts and testing them out when it's convenient (hold me back!)...and today, it was right across the street, so how could I refuse?  I ran my errand during the late lunch period in order to avoid the peak lunch-hour lines and in a matter of minutes, I was almost skipping to the convenient lounging courtyard across the street next to the PSU Engineering Building with a super heavy sack of Thai food.  My choice today was to sample a new spot I'd recently read glowing reviews for, the somewhat oddly named Thai Pasta.  Wow, how yummy does that second photo look?!

                                                        I decided to 'custom order' and requested the House Curry "extra hot please", with chicken, pumpkin, red & green peppers, peas, carrots, & broccoli over white jasmine rice...oh my goodness!  It did not disappoint, except I didn't need my water because, as is often the case when ordering Thai, 'extra hot' ended up being 'medium' at best...but oh how tasty, and well worth $6.

      This solo beggar did a few drive-bys and I finally tossed him a single (medium hot) pea but he didn't even slow down, just gave me the old pigeon stink eye and moved on to more preferable ground food.

     I've always like the letter style of this motel sign downtown.

      This gorgeous Victorian a block east of me always pops, when the Hydrangea is blooming